Dirty Tricks? Thousands Of GOP Ballot Requests In Georgia Don't Have Signatures

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

A Republican-generated effort to get out the vote for the Dec. 2 runoff election has hit a snag as thousands of requests for absentee ballots have been denied because the applications were not signed.

County elections officials are contacting voters by mail, directing them to print applications from county or state election Web sites and fax them in by Wednesday.

Read the whole story: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Comments

[CBS]

H/uffPo seems to have turned its headline writing over to E/SL students. D/irty tri/cks??

[juzcuz]

who gives a p-o-o-p??? Get a life CBS. Or become a proof-reader for the comic books.

[slipthalo]

Dirty tricks? And how would anyone even remotely ask that question? Just because the absentee ballots that were mailed out by the Republicans evidently are the ones being returned without a signature - why would anyone think there could be dirty tricks astir here. LOL
The headline was pretty concise and clear to most - are there dirty tricks being played? I wouldn't put it past Chambliss and his party - he's run a dirty campaign before and they are willing to do anything to win again.
Perhaps they need to tell those who didn't sign their absentee ballots to physically go to the polls and sign in person before they can vote.

[chaswagner]

Why the title dirty tricks? Nothing in that article suggest dirty tricks.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Did you miss the question mark or did they not cover its meaning in whatever school you graduated from?

[CBS]

A little grouchy today?????????????

[BillMelater]

Dayum.

[truesteam]

I am confused by the "Dirty Tricks?" in the headline. Some body please translate for me.

[RobHughey]

Tricks that are dirty or otherwise less-than-clean.

You're welcome. ;-P

[pir anha]

would somebody like to explain how this is "dirty tricks"? are these not actual eligible voters who're requesting these absentee ballots? does anyone have proof of that? not having them signed hurts the republican party itself, so what would be the point?

voting should be EASY for every single eligible voter. why is the signature important when _requesting_ a ballot? that just sounds like an extra hoop to me. it should be on the absentee ballot itself, where it needs to be compared with the registration.

[anninroosevelt]

The signature is important so that the county Board of Elections can match the signature on the absentee ballot application with the voter's signature in the poll book, which she would sign if she came in to vote on December 2. Otherwise a pile of thousands of people in many counties, many of whom have not voted for several elections, thus demonstrating an indifference to voting, could cast absentee ballots. It is easy for campaigns to get lists of those who are infrequent voters, and perhaps did not even vote in the Nov. 4 high-turnout election.Runoff electioons are low-turnout, and this "process" guarantees more votes for Chambliss.

[pir anha]

hm, maybe i don't understand something here (sorry if i come across as dense :) -- doesn't the absentee ballot itself have a signature, and isn't that signature compared with the voter's registration? ergo, that signature is equivalent to the signature in the poll book from a voter who votes in person, no? so why does the application itself need a signature as well?

i realize why they're sending out those cards, but i don't consider that to be a bad thing -- no, i don't want chambliss to win, but i do think everyone is entitled to their vote.

[bygollymissmolly]

Would you want someone else to be able to get your absentee ballot? Without the signature they can't be sure it is you asking for the ballot.

[pir anha]

i don't really care who else gets absentee ballots, as long as i get one when i send in my card, and as long as nobody else gets to vote in my name. if they compare signatures when i do vote, that shouldn't be a problem.

actual voter fraud is extremely rare -- the brouhaha about ACORN was a false alarm, exploited by the republicans. voter suppression, on the other hand, is a serious and unfortunately not uncommon problem. now, usually republicans are also the ones who engage in that, and i much prefer democrats didn't end up pulling similar stunts.

[BillMelater]

I am sure the Republicans made that law to try to disenfranchise voters. However, it now appears to have bitten them on the behind. Aw, too bad.

http://billmel8er.wordpress.com

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Are they going to blame ACORN for this as well?

[ErnestineBass]

Naaaah...this one's PECAN's fault...heh heh.

[GoodGuysandBadGuys]

heh that's good!

[drowninginred]

LOL!!!!!!!!

[weatherwaxx]

Sure, why not? They've already blamed it for everything but the Hindenburg.

[mamacat]

Republicans lying, stealing, and cheating? That's not news. It would be newsworthy if the Republicans told the truth, were honest, and played by the rules. Maybe then, people would start voting for them again.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Yea but people who believed in things such as truth, honesty and the rules would never vote republican.

[redsongia]

Ironically, that's all it would take to get us to vote for repubs again.

[bygollymissmolly]

It seems to me that this is hurting the Republicans and not the Democrats. The RNC mailed them cards to send to the Registrar of Voters to request an absentee ballot. Many people didn't sign the card so the ballot won't be sent to them. That is going to hurt the Republicans and not the Democrats.

[mrodriques]

I definitely think that i am going to switch party affiliation from Democratic to Republican...I hear theirs is the party of inclusion...

[krocklin]

Did you see that pool of blood in the backdrop to the Palin interview?
That was for formerly Democratic turkeys who turned Republican.

[drumz]

Yes, and I have some wonderful property in Swampland, FL you would probably be interested in too.

[ScoobyDoo269]

I guess and 'X' doesn't mean what it used to in Georgia!

[feo]

In the 1960s, during the Vietnam War, Chambliss received five student deferments while attending the University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee College of Law and was also given a medical deferment (1-Y) for bad knees due to a football injury. Football injury? I had a hernia was still drafted.

[nick1936]

Why would a good Repub who loves this country an supports our service men vote for this Draft Dodger. Oh I forgot they are from the south you know the ones that took up arms against the United States and got their asses kicked. what a bunch of losers.

[drowninginred]

Not cool... I'm from the South and can guarantee you I'm not a loser. Good rethugs vote for whomever they are told to vote for thus... W won. As for the Civil War- Lee never surrendered, that thievin' Yankee Grant stole his sword :)

[brynn6]

Thanks for the laugh! When I moved to Texas I was called a yankee a lot because of my "northern" accent. When I said that Oregon didn't participate in the "war between the states" so I couldn't properly be called a yankee I got a lot of blank looks. Sometimes confusion works. :)

[Budokan]

Wow, imagine that, the GOP trying to cheat.

[Openeyes]

RNC:
1. Point gun at foot.
2. Pull trigger.
3. Repeat.

[drumz]

I would've instructed them to aim higher...

[sunzen]

hey i thought they had to provide an Govt issued photo ID...another Republican voter suppression tecnnique

[bygollymissmolly]

That's what I have a problem with. If you vote absentee, you don't have to show photo ID. But if you vote in person, you do. I think that the people voting via absentee ballot should be required to include a photo copy of their photo id.

Actually, I wish that the Federal Government would come up with one way of voting for all the states. The fact that the requirements are different in every state is ridiculous.

[kjstjohn]

In prior elections, absentee voting by mail overwhelmingly favored the Republicans. Now that Democrats are absentee voting in high numbers we expect an id requirement to be imposed.

The absence of id requirements for absentee balloting by mail was the big tip-off that the id requirement was part of a voter suppression strategy.

[brynn6]

I am handicapped and vote absentee for that reason. Under NO circumstance will I mail in a copy of my ID. I would never trust anyone with my personal information, identity theft would be just too tempting.